HASTINGS, Mich. (WZZM) – It’s all but assured 70-year-old David Carl Heinsen will die behind bars after a Barry County judge today sentenced the porn-collecting pedophile to between 40 and 60 years in prison for raping a girl with Down syndrome more than 25 years ago.
Barry County Circuit Court Judge Amy McDowell sentenced the gray-haired man for first-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a former neighbor in the eastern Barry County community of Nashville. The victim was 8-years-old at the time of the assaults.
Heinsen is awaiting an April sentencing in federal court for amassing a collection of child pornography investigators says exceeds 650,000 images.
He was charged last fall in Barry County with four counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, which carries a maximum term of up to life in prison.
Heinsen told investigators that he sexually abused the girl and photographed the assaults at his home, Barry County Prosecutor Julie Nakfoor Pratt said. "The victim has Down syndrome, possessed a limited vocabulary so was unable to describe the atrocities suffered,'' the prosecutor said in a statement.
His cache of pornography included images of children, some just old enough to walk, being sexually abused and in some cases, tortured, investigators said. In addition to the images, Heinsen had 3,000 videos of child pornography, investigators said, adding that Heinsen targeted girls between the ages of 10 and 12.
Nashville police launched an investigation in July after pornography was found on a computer Heinsen frequently used. A search of his home turned up numerous images of child pornography. He was arrested July 30.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Grand Rapids charged Heinsen with receiving and possessing child pornography. He was indicted on those charges in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids.
Heinsen last month pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to receipt of child pornography. The offense carries a mandatory minimum term of five years and up to 20 years in prison. He’ll return to federal court for sentencing on April 25.
As part of a plea agreement, the federal sentence will run concurrent with the term handed down Tuesday in Barry County. He agreed to pay restitution to children who appear in the pornographic images. The order for restitution specifically mentions children who appear in the “Exposed in the Kitchen’’ series mentioned in the Sept. 15 indictment.
Heinsen has also agreed to forfeit computers and hard drives used in the collection and dissemination of child pornography. The federal agreement required that he plead guilty to count one of the Barry County case – first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a person under the age of 13. In exchange, the Barry County Prosecutor’s Office agreed to dismiss the remaining counts.
In the federal indictment, prosecutors charged Heinsen with receiving five video files of child pornography between December 2010 and January 2011.
He was charged with possession of child pornography based on more than 10,000 images and videos found at his home in mid-July. Titles included "Exposed in the Kitchen Starring Eight-Year-Old'' and "Pantyhose Pics,'' federal court documents show.
